To paraphrase Wayne Gretzky, medical education should “skate to where the puck will be in 2020.” With these provocative opening comments by keynote speaker Dr. Charles Friedman, director of the Health Informatics Program at the University of Michigan’s School of Information and Public Health, the third Innovations in Education Symposium was launched on April 24. Friedman went on to discuss the informational future with the ever-expanding healthcare knowledge cloud as well as ubiquitous electronic health record systems and data, and the implications these trends will have for training the next generation of medical, dental and graduate students. They will need to successfully mine this massive and sometimes conflicting information cloud, recognizing what they know and don’t know, and appropriately phrasing questions to get to the right answers.
Billed as “a forum for communication and sharing of innovative approaches to use of technology in education,” this year’s Innovations in Education symposium definitely lived up to expectations. From a stimulating overview of 3-D, gaming, interactive e-texts, and other upcoming educational technology by Khamis Abu-Hasaballah, assistant vice president, IT Research Informatics, to an entertaining presentation of a role-play lecture alternative, “Dental Drauma,” by Dr. David Newitter, associate professor, Reconstructive Services, the afternoon provided a lot of food for thought relative to imaginative new technology to support enhanced learning.
Winner of the award for Most Innovative, fourth-year medical student Dan Henderson regaled the crowd with his use of Prezi, the cloud-based zoomable presentation software, to tell the story of his successful use of mobile apps to improve patient safety. Using social media, he literally extended use of his patient safety checklist to medical students in schools all over the world. He left the group with a list of creative examples of other potential health care apps with far-reaching potential for positive patient safety impacts.
Dr. Angela Kueck, assistant professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, won the Best Presentation award for her presentation on a pilot program in OB/GYN incorporating simulation in surgical training. Noting that the trends to minimally invasive procedures and use of robotics for surgery have changed the more hands-on experiences previously available to medical students and residents, Kueck discussed the creative ways that gap can be filled with simulation technology and robotic device educational experiences.
A mid-afternoon break allowed participants to view digital posters set up in the Academic Lobby. Karen Harrington, assistant professor, Community Medicine and Healthcare, won the award for Best Poster with her thoughtful presentation of what student logs are telling us relative to the Student Continuity Practice (SCP) program. Information gained through the logs allows appropriate interventions and ongoing support to preceptors and students to ensure that curricular goals for SCP are being met.
This year’s symposium was in development for several months, supported by a committee of deans and faculty from the Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine and the Graduate School, and staff from Faculty Instructional Technology Services.
The success of this year’s event was summarized by Evelyn Morgen, library director, who noted, ”The speakers were all excellent and everyone I spoke with felt they learned new things and came away with exciting new ideas.”
For more information on this year’s program, visit http://fits.uchc.edu/symposium/index.html.
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